Interleaf spacer for grooved springs



March 1953 N. c. FICK ET AL INTERLEAF SPACER FOR GROOVED SPRINGS Filed March 27, 1948 FIGURE I FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 Patented Mar. 24, 1953 INTERLEAFSPACER eonanooven SP A Nathaniel (l Fjck and Nelson A. Crites Columbus, emit as o by s ieile em Standard Steel Spring eomp n Pa, a'corp'orationof Pennsy 'aiii'a Application March 27, 1948 er;ial1l0.

.7 Claims. .1

- This invention. relates to anew type, of interleaf spacer andmore arucmany to interleaf spacers forusewith grooved leaf spring sections.

Thein'eedlfor. inte'rleaf spacers in leaf spring assemblies islwell establishedlin the art, it being generally recognized that js'pacers are important in eliminating or marked-1y decreasin the galli'n'g and fretting action whichfoccurs between adjacent spring leaves due'to the vibration and ,tor sions to which leaf spring assemblies are constantly subjected. In the past; spacers toi' fit grooved spring leaves" have been formed by set]- ing, or stapling, two elongated sections of flexible material'together so as to produce a ribbed effect in the manner described in U. S. Patent No. 2,1 %,640' to Pretz,1for[exampl e; These sewin or stapling processes are rather expensive and have not been widely adopted in practice;

, It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an interleaf spacer which may be formed easily and economically according to well-known fabrication methods; I

It'is a further object of this invention to provide an interleaf spacerprovided with asuitable reservoir for holding alubricant material.

Other objects andLD 'l'po'ses of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the appended drawmgswmch illustrate embodiments of the invention wherein:

Figure l is a schematic drawing showing the spacer ofthe present invention? Figure 2 is a cross-section through a, portion of a leaf spring and spacer assembly and illustrates the manner in which a lubricant material may befincorporated in theas'sembly;

Figures shows a variation of" the spacer shown in Figure 1 wherein a perforated reservoir' portion isshown; and

Figures is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a leaf spring-and-spacer,assembly, illustrating another form 'of the spacer of this invention in use with a leaf spring having. two grooves.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a spacer it having a projecting or channel portion H extending the length of the element along one side and fashioned to fit securely in the grooved portion of a spring leaf is shown in Figure 1. On the underside of this channel portion H is a reservoir-forming portion l2 which may be filled with a lubricating material It and which forms an integral part of the projecting portion I l as is shown in Figure 2. The manner of assembly of the spacers i6 and the spring leaves I5-l5 is shown in Figure 2. In Figure 3 it is shown how the spacer [0 may be provided (01.: zev so) Hated sii ssa' fi ths .s s ar t ei o v' k rtionsof the upper ringbleaf ifl; It will be d l a arent ra e ers ied for s w th arms v s hev fisth e u r v f n i en number ofgrboves'oould' be prepared by provid-- ing the spacer projectionsi Considerationof the assembly illustrated in Figure 2"will 'revealtliat' the position of the lubricant" reservoir f-zprovidesfor the adequate lubri catibnof t ese surfaces which aremost likely to be subject fdamaging wear an'd'abrasion. Lubneat enert dse 'c' iriay'beabetted by imnating the Spec 1' with a suitablelubricant pr orto'itsjinsrtioh into the leaf'spring'assemmy; sue irh' gr-lauds greatlyjenhancesthe asses es the ddcin iriction and fretting between spring vesi .B f, p nis; t ers .1 1-1 ra h w in r IFQ Y Q W j sf ef q M rom t e lubric'an with the appropriate number of ready pointed out, an important function of the present spacer is to prevent squeaking due to rubbing action between adjacent leaf springs. Other advantages and variations not already mentioned will be obvious to those skilled in the art and should be considered a part of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a leaf spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one fiat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with a groove extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and having a projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer, extend ing the length thereof, and formed to fit into said groove, and the underside of said projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer; said underside of said projecting portion and said fiat side of an adjacent leaf forming a void which provides a lubricant reservoir.

2. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one fiat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with grooves extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and having projecting portions extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said grooves, and the undersides of said projecting portions extending above the plane of said spacer; said undersides of said projecting portions and said fiat side of an adjacent leaf forming voids which provide lubricant reservoirs.

3. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one fiat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with grooves extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposedbetween adjacentleaves and having a plurality of projecting portions extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said grooves, perforations in said projecting portions, and the underside of said projecting portions extending above the plane of said spacer; said undersides of said projecting portions and said flat side of an adjacent leaf forming voids which provide lubricant reservoirs, the perforations permitting the flow of lubricant material to the compression side of the spring leaf. 7

'4. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one flat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with a groove extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and having a single projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said groove, and the underside of said projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer; said underside of said projecting portion and said flat side of an adjacent leaf forming a void which provides a lubricant reservoir.

5. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one fiat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with a groove extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and comprising a single integral element and having a projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said groove, and the underside of said projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer; said underside of said projecting portion and said flat side of an adjacent leaf forming a void which provides a lubricant reservoir.

6. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one fiat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with a groove extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and having a projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said groove, and the underside of said projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer; said underside of said projecting portion and said flat side of an adjacent leaf forming a void which provides a lubricant reservoir; said spacer comprising a single integral element, and with perforations through said projecting portion to said lubricant reservoir.

7. In a leaf-spring assembly comprising a plurality of leaves, each of said leaves having at least one flat side and an oppositely disposed side provided with 'a groove extending the length of said leaf, an interleaf spacer disposed between adjacent leaves and having a projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer, extending the length thereof, and formed to fit into said groove, and the underside of said projecting portion extending above the plane of said spacer; said underside of said projecting portion and said fiat side of an adjacent leaf forming a void which provides a lubricant reservoir; said spacer having as an integral part a perforated lubricant reservoir, whereby lubricant may pass to the compression side of the leaf.

NATHANIEL C. FICK. NELSON A. CRITES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,772,935 Gylling Aug. 12, 1930 2,148,640 Pretz Feb. 28, 1939;

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 997 Great Britain Jan. 13, 1910 602,420 Great Britain May 26, 1948 418,845 France Dec. 20, 1910 

